What is Physical opportunity?
Physical opportunity refers to the environmental resources, time, location, and material conditions that enable or constrain behavior. It captures whether the external world allows the behavior to occur.
How it works
Physical opportunity barriers include lack of time, inaccessible locations, unavailable materials, and financial cost. A person cannot eat healthily if healthy food is not available in their neighborhood. This component is often overlooked because designers assume motivated, capable people will find a way.
Applied example
A low-income neighborhood where the nearest produce store is a 40-minute bus ride away faces a physical opportunity barrier to healthy eating. No amount of nutrition education overcomes the absence of actual food access.
Why it matters
Physical opportunity highlights that behavior change requires environmental conditions, not just individual characteristics.
